Midget: Difference between revisions

▲}}</ref> While not a [[Medical terminology|medical term]], it has been applied to people of unusually short stature, often with [[dwarfism]], a medical condition with a number of causes including [[achondroplasia]],<ref name="Shapiro2000"/> and particularly ''proportionate'' dwarfism.<ref name = "MW def"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/bigenough/special_dwarfism_ety.html|title=What is Dwarfism?|last=Kennedy|first=Dan|date=2005-05-23|publisher=American Documentary|access-date=2008-10-11}}</ref> The word has a history of association with the [[Performance art|performance arts]] as little people were often employed by acts in the [[circus]], [[vaudeville]], etc.

▲Midgets have always been popular entertainers but were often regarded with [[disgust]] and [[wikt:revulsion|revulsion]] in society. In the early 19th century, however, midgets were romanticized by the middle class and regarded with the same affectionate condescension extended to children, as creatures of innocence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/withamusementfor00ashb|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/withamusementfor00ashb/page/597 597]|quote=commodore nutt.|access-date=18 January 2018|last=Ashby|first=LeRoy|date=12 May 2006|title=With Amusement for All: a history of American popular culture since 1830|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|place=Lexington|isbn=9780813123974}}</ref> The term "midget" came into prominence in the mid-19th century after [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] used it in her novels ''Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands'' and ''[[Old Town Folks]]'' where she described children and an extremely short man, respectively.<ref name='dwarfism-pbshome'>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/bigenough/special_dwarfism_ety.html |title=P.O.V. - Big Enough. What is Dwarfism? |access-date=2008-11-18 |last=Kennedy |first=Dan |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service }}</ref> [[P. T. Barnum]] indirectly helped popularize the term "midget" when he began featuring [[General Tom Thumb]], [[Lavinia Warren]] and [[Commodore Nutt]] in his [[circus]].<ref name="Thomson1996">{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Rosemarie Garland|title=Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djPCfSAsHN0C&pg=PA191|access-date=8 December 2012|year=1996|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814782224|pages=191–}}</ref> "Midget" became linked to referencing short people put on public display for curiosity and sport.<ref name='dwarfism-pbshome'/> Barnum's midgets, however, were elevated to a position of [[High society (group)|high society]], given fantasy military titles, introduced to dignitaries and royalty, and showered with gifts.<ref>[http://www.brightbytes.com/collection/tomthumb.html Charles Sherwood Stratton (AKA General Tom Thumb) and His Circle], ''Jack & Beverly's Images of Special Subjects'', December 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=693&page=all Exhibit: ''"Sketch Of The Life, Personal Appearance, Character And Manners Of Charles S. Stratton, The Man In Miniature, Known As General Tom Thumb, And His Wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton; Including The History Of Their Courtship And Marriage, With Some Account Of Remarkable Dwarfs, Giants, & Other Human Phenomena, Of Ancient And Modern Times, And Songs Given At Their Public Levees"'' 1863 pamphlet], Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, New York (Robert Bogdan Collection), The Disability History Museum.</ref>

▲Such performances continued to be widespread through the mid part of the twentieth century, with [[Hermines Midgets]] brought from their performances in Paris to appear at the [[1939 New York World's Fair]],<ref name="Cullen2004">{{cite book|last=Cullen|first=Frank|title=Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&pg=PA507|access-date=8 December 2012|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415938532|pages=507–}}</ref> the same year that [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios|MGM]] released ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', which featured 124 midgets in its cast, most of whom were from the [[Singer's Midgets|Singer's Midgets troupe]].<ref>{{cite book